The U.S. Forest Service was thoroughly mocked for a recent exhaustive article on the eve of National Roasted Marshmallow Day (Aug. 30), instructing Americans how to successfully toast a marshmallow without injuring themselves. The USFS also suggested replacing the chocolate with fruit and the graham cracker with angel food cake, in the name of nutrition.
Why stop there? Why not replace the marshmallow with a Brussels sprout, and the fire with a TV set? It would be safer, healthier . . . and absolutely ghastly. The truth is, safer is not always better.
The article author's intentions were good, and the tips are recommendations, not codified into law--at least, not yet--but this is indicative of the troublesome trend of making health and safety paramount over everything, including both freedom and enjoyment.
The fundamental argument for helmet laws is that the state pays some medical costs for riders' injuries and, therefore, has an interest in keeping riders safe. But that rationale is an endless path. As taxpayers shoulder more and more health care costs, the state can claim that every decision that impacts health falls within their jurisdiction.
America is fatter than ever, so we are seeing attempts to tax, ban or regulate soda. Can candy and snack foods be far behind?
And guns? If it weren't for that pesky Constitution, firearms would have been banned long ago.
Sometimes a safety concern doesn't even have to be proven; governments are rushing to regulate or ban e-cigarettes in spite of the fact that we do not yet even know whether they are a health danger or benefit to smokers.
Anything we are afraid of gives lawmakers the chance to grab a little more power, a little more money, impose another regulation, or look like defenders of the public good while picking economic winners and losers--and, therefore, campaign contributions--from the industries they target.
However, ceding control of our lives to the state is just about the least safe thing we could ever do.
How many times at work have you heard, "Safety is our first priority"? Don't believe it. If you work at a toy factory, the first priority actually is making toys. If safety was really more important, they would close up shop and fire you so you could go sit safely at home.
The world is an unsafe place. Empowering the state with the endless and futile task of protecting us from all possible harm is a recipe for unlimited government and total surrender of personal freedom. As a society we must not succumb to the impulse to surrender so much of our personal responsibility for daily safety that we end up giving away our freedom out of fear.
In America, safety is not our first priority. Freedom is.
Editorial on 09/17/2014